Charlie Strong

Derek Dooley’s firing comes as no surprise to anyone. In a conference that has won six consecutive national championships, winning is critical. Dooley’s SEC record at Tennessee, 4-19, did little to dispute that theory.

Throw in Tennessee’s financial woes in the athletic department and an unavoidable recipe for a head coaching change resulted.

Tennessee athletic director Dave Hart spoke of his department as being at a “crossroads.” If things are as bleak as they do seem, Tennessee cannot afford to lose anymore. That is, they cannot afford to lose in the offseason anymore.

Vol fans still try to forget the dark days known as the “Kiffin era,” which continues to bring punishments by the NCAA. Lane Kiffin’s departure forced Tennessee to hire a new head coach near the end of the hiring window. Most of the top coaching prospects had already made their decision and moved on. That left the Vols to find someone who they believed could get the job done as well as bring stability back to the program.

Enter Derek Dooley. From here, the rest of the story is obvious. Two head coach searches have not panned out the way that the team and the fans hoped they would.

While both Kiffin and Dooley did contribute to making the program better, neither coaches in Knoxville anymore, meaning that Hart needs to find a coach who can reestablish a Tennessee program that once dominated in the SEC .

So who can be the savior of the program despite Tennessee’s financial troubles? Ask that question in Knoxville and the most abundant answer you will get is Jon Gruden.

Gruden would certainly be that homerun hire that would not only excite the fan base, but also result in wins. Yes Gruden would ask Tennessee to make him one of the highest-paid coaches in football, but at this stage Tennessee would find any way to make that happen.

Supposing that Gruden does not sign with Tennessee, hiring someone like Louisville head coach Charlie Strong or even trying to contact Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen could also be good ideas. Hart wants someone with previous head coaching experience, as he mentioned in his press conference this week, and someone with proven success.

Fans of the orange and white certainly want to see Gruden as the next coach, but not landing Gruden will not be a failure for Hart. What is important for this athletic director is to get the right hire. For as many losses as Tennessee fans have suffered in these past three years, they will not tolerate any more. That means that Hart must bring Big Orange Country its biggest win in years during the offseason.